1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar mixed on nonfarm payrolls

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other major currencies on Friday as nonfarm payroll report from the country came out mixed.

U.S. Labor Department said on Friday that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 5.4 percent from the previous month. The latest employment gain was slightly above market consensus of 220,000.

However, the March nonfarm payroll growth was revised down from 126,000 to 85,000, the lowest level since June 2012.

Analysts said the mixed data supported market speculation that the Federal Reserve may not begin to raise interest rates in the immediate future.

In late New York trading, the euro dropped to 1.1206 dollars from 1.1266 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.5458 dollars from 1.5258 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7918 dollars from 0.7903 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.79 Japanese yen, higher than 119.77 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar climbed to 0.9312 Swiss francs from 0.9217 Swiss francs, and it declined to 1.2094 Canadian dollars from 1.2136 Canadian dollars. Endite